Entrepreneurship Academy Mentoring Overview

Thank you for your interest in mentoring at an upcoming Entrepreneurship Academy. Your time and expertise is of great value to our academy constituents and we appreciate your consideration.

ACADEMY OVERVIEW

The virtual Entrepreneurship Academy is a five-day program designed for upper-division undergrads, graduate students, postdoctoral researchers, faculty and fellowship participants to explore the commercial potential of their ideas.

The academy combines focused lectures, practical exercises, breakout sessions and hands-on experiences in an innovative format to help participants explore how their ideas or research can make a broader impact in industry, the marketplace and the world. With your help, they will learn to effectively present their ideas, identify market needs and opportunities, and develop a network of experts to support their venture.

Mentoring Format

Mentoring sessions allow you to help participants refine their ideas through one-on-one pitching and feedback in a timed virtual format.

You will be assigned to a specific Zoom breakout room. Participants are assigned to each mentor room and introduced to the room by the room host.
Each participant / team will briefly pitch their idea to you and gather feedback through two-way questions and discussion. After 10 minutes, a Zoom notice will indicate that you have 5 minutes remaining in the session. At the end of the 15-minute session, participants will automatically be rotated through by the room host.
You will remain in your originally assigned breakout room and new participants will enter after each session.
Participants / teams will be at various stages in their idea development, but most have formulated their initial elevator pitch, an overview of their business concept, and some initial market and customer validation.

Mentor Responsibilities

Your job as the mentor is to provide support, enthusiasm, business acumen and questions that will help participants get excited about continuing to work on their idea. Participants bring to the session:

The elevator pitch – ideally, their one sentence description
A lengthier description of their research technology and/or innovation
Some questions that could lead to information that may help move the idea forward

Things to think about when talking to the participants:

Is their Elevator Pitch concise and to the point?
Did they answer the key questions around who, what, why and how?
Did they define a market, customers and competition for the new venture?
Did they identify a business model? What suggestions can you provide them on their model?
What feedback can you provide them to help them refine their market and business model?

Niki Peterson
Senior Program Manager
UC Davis Mike and Renee Child Institute for Innovation and Entrepreneurship
(530) 400-9531 | ndpeterson@ucdavis.edu